Response from Senator Lieberman on NSA

Dear Mr. Herz:

Thank you for contacting me to express your views regarding President Bush's actions allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on Americans in the United States communicating with people overseas. I welcome the opportunity to respond.

NSA does not normally engage in domestic spying, and, like all other agencies, is required to obtain a warrant before conducting such electronic surveillance of American citizens. I am very troubled by news of this type of surveillance by NSA, of American citizens without a court order, particularly when there is an existing law -- the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- that creates a procedure for receiving a court order under a variety of scenarios.

I do not believe that President Bush has the authority to authorize NSA to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant, or without following the current FISA law. Additionally, I believe that FISA requires the President to go to the secret FISA court in those instances. According to court records, the FISA court has only turned down a small amount of requests out of about 20,000, since its creation in 1978. I do believe our government should have the power to tap phone conversations and e-mails between people who may have something to do with al Qaeda, but I also believe our government should have to at least go through one level of clearance, such as the FISA court, to obtain a warrant either before it engages in such surveillance or shortly thereafter.

I strongly support Senator Arlen Specter's (R-PA) decision to hold hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate this serious matter, which he convened in February 2006. I hope the House of Representatives does the same.

Please be assured that I will continue my strong commitment to maintaining the balance between the crucial need for tools to fight the war on terror and the equally important need of providing a judicial check on such surveillance authority.

My official Senate web site is designed to be an on-line office that provides access to constituent services, Connecticut-specific information, and an abundance of information about what I am working on in the Senate on behalf of Connecticut and the nation. I am also pleased to let you know that I have launched an email news update service through my web site. You can sign up for that service by visiting http://lieberman.senate.gov and clicking on the "Subscribe Email News Updates" button at the bottom of the home page. I hope these are informative and useful.

Thank you again for letting me know your views and concerns. Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.

Sincerely,


Joseph I. Lieberman
UNITED STATES SENATOR